


London Calling

by my_mad_fatuation



Series: London Calling [1]
Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, London
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 06:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7157729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_mad_fatuation/pseuds/my_mad_fatuation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang take a trip to London as Rae and Finn’s friendship develops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I realize Rae wouldn’t be allowed to go to London right after getting out of the hospital, but suspend that disbelief at the door and have a little fun!

It felt as though the train ride to London was interminable. It was early in the morning and the others had fallen asleep, but Rae stayed awake the whole time, watching the countryside fly past.  
She still couldn’t believe she was going to London. She’d managed to convince her mum that it was good for her to bond with her new friends, and her mental health therapist agreed as long as she Skyped with him during their regularly scheduled appointments twice a week.  
She was only going to be gone a week, anyway, so she didn’t think it was a big deal. And she’d been getting closer with Chloe again since she got out of the hospital, so she wasn’t feeling as alone and isolated as she did back when she hurt herself.  
Plus, there were all her new friends. Well, they were Chloe’s friends, and Rae just sort of tagged along with them. She was fairly close with Archie, though. She’d even gone out with him before he admitted to her that he was gay. It was their little secret.  
She’d hung out a bit with Izzy as well, mostly going shopping with her and Chloe, which Rae found kind of boring, but she knew the other girls liked it. She got on well with Chop, too, who seemed to think she was pretty funny.  
Then there was Finn. She wasn’t sure where she stood with Finn. She had sort of thought he was just a shallow pretty boy, but then he came ‘round her house to apologize when Archie had stood her up and she figured maybe there was more to him than that. She didn’t really think she was quite friends with him though. They were friendly—ish—but they never hung out just the two of them.  
She looked across the table to where Finn was sitting, asleep against the window of the train. God, he was gorgeous. She didn’t fancy him or anything; she just enjoyed looking at him sometimes. (And sometimes she enjoyed thinking about him while she pleasured herself. No big deal.)  
“Stop staring at me, it freaks me out,” he said to her.  
She was startled; she hadn’t realized he was awake. “I wasn’t staring at ya,” she said quickly, looking back out the window.  
“Yeah, whatever.”  
She got out her mobile and pretended to be texting in order to have something to do.  
“Who are you talking to?” he said, sitting up properly. “Everyone you know is here.”  
“I know other people.”  
“Like who?”  
She thought for a moment. “Danny,” she said.  
“Who’s Danny?”  
“Just a guy that I know.”  
“And he’s texting you this early in the morning?”  
“Maybe.”  
He shrugged and slouched again. “Whatever.”  
***  
When they finally got to London, they all headed to the Underground, where Chloe, Chop, and Archie went to get everyone Oyster cards while the others guarded all of their luggage.  
They rode the Tube to Bank where they transferred to the DLR and then got off at Cutty Sark in Greenwich, which was just across the road from the flat they had rented for the week.  
The flat was fairly small, but it slept six: it had a double bed in one bedroom, two single beds in another, and two sofas in the living room, which was open to the kitchen. The bedroom with the double bed had its own toilet, but whoever was staying in the other rooms would have to share the one by the front door.  
“So, how are we doing this?” said Chloe. “Somebody’s gotta sleep boy/girl.”  
The three girls looked at each other hesitantly.   
Archie sighed. “I’ll do it,” he said grudgingly.  
“Alright, I will too,” said Rae.   
“Ooooh,” said the others. (Except Finn. He didn’t seem to care one way or another.)  
“We’ll take the two beds, you morons,” she added.  
Izzy and Chloe took the double bed and Chop and Finn set themselves up in the living room. Everyone claimed his or her bed (or side of the bed) before heading out again.  
They went to the Sainsbury Local ten minutes away to stock up on essentials like bread and milk and beer. Once they’d gotten back to the flat and put everything in the fridge, Rae went and collapsed on her bed. She was exhausted from the trip.  
She ended up falling asleep and only woke up when Chloe asked if she wanted to go to the pub with them to grab something to eat.  
“I think I’m just going to hang out here,” Rae said. “I’m not very hungry.”  
That wasn’t true. She was starving. She was just waiting for them all to leave so she could eat a packet of crisps that she’d brought.  
“Alright, well, we’ll just be across the road if you change your mind,” said Chloe.  
Rae heard the door shut behind them once they’d left and waited a good two minutes to make sure they were gone before tearing into her crisps. When she’d finished, she put the empty packet in the bin in the kitchen and hoped none of them would notice it.  
She sat around bored for a while before texting Chloe to ask how much longer they’d be out.  
“Idk,” Chloe replied. “We’re just getting another round. Join us!”  
Rae thought about it and decided she wasn’t going to bond with her new friends by spending her evenings alone in the flat, so she went over to meet them.  
***  
“Okay, I’ve got a game,” said Chop as they got their next round of drinks.  
The others groaned.  
“Never Have I Ever,” he continued. “When it’s your turn, you say something that you’ve never done, and anyone else who has done it has to take a drink.”  
“Sounds fun,” said Izzy.  
“I’ll start,” he said. “Never have I ever read a book just for fun.”  
“Seriously?” said Finn.  
Chop smirked and everyone else took a drink. Izzy was next.  
“Never have I ever stolen anything,” she said.  
“Does pirating music count?” asked Archie.  
“Yes.”  
Everyone else took a drink.  
Finn’s turn. “Never have I ever taken a piss on a tree in the park.” He looked at Chop and tried not to smile.  
“Come on,” Chop said before taking a drink.  
Rae took a moment to come up with something. “Never have I ever kissed a girl,” she said.  
Everyone else took a drink. Rae looked at Chloe quizzically and she shrugged.  
“Never have I ever kissed anyone at this table,” said Chloe.  
Everyone except her and Finn took a drink.  
“Never have I ever kissed someone without knowing their name,” said Archie.  
Chloe shot him a dirty look and took a drink.  
It was Chop’s turn again. “Alright, never have I ever kissed a bloke.”  
Archie looked around before hesitantly taking a drink along with the girls.  
“Never have I ever had sex,” Izzy said quietly.  
Finn, Chop, and Chloe all took a drink. Rae looked down at her glass, embarrassed.  
“Never have I ever…” Finn started slowly, “I don’t know, been in love, I guess.”  
Everyone exchanged nervous glances but nobody took a drink.  
“I don’t like this game anymore,” said Izzy.  
***  
Rae found herself awake at two in the morning, bursting for the toilet. She got out of bed and crept past Archie to the door, opening and shutting it gently behind her. It was pitch black in the hallway so she was glad she’d brought her mobile to use as a flashlight.  
She turned it on but not before smacking into something that felt human. She yelped and stepped back.  
“Watch it!” the human said.  
“Finn?” she asked, flashing the light towards his head.  
“Turn that thing off, it’s blinding,” Finn complained, covering his face.  
“Sorry.” She turned off the flashlight and just left the screen on, casting a bluish glow over their chests. (She couldn’t help but notice that his was bare. Did he sleep without a shirt?) (She didn’t need to know that.)  
“What are you doing?”  
“I was just going to the toilet,” she said impatiently. “What are you doing?”  
“Same,” he said. “After you, then.”  
She didn’t like the idea of him just standing outside the door while she urinated, but she didn’t have much of a choice at this point.  
When she finished and opened the door, the light from the bathroom illuminated him and she could see him in all his shirtless glory. (Welp, that was going in her spank bank.)  
“Thanks,” he said to her, squinting in the light as she held the door open for him.  
“Yeah, thanks,” she said with a nervous laugh. Why did she say that? She walked away shaking her head for being so weird.  
She got back to bed but couldn’t fall asleep. Her stomach was rumbling—one packet of crisps was not enough to sustain her. She considered grabbing some more of the food she had packed and eating it in the bathroom, but she was afraid of running into Finn again.  
So far, this week was not off to a great start.


	2. Chapter 2

“Whose idea was it to do this?” asked Chop.  
They were taking a boat down the Thames towards central London and Chop looked like he was going to be sick. He made it to Bankside, however, where they disembarked.  
They had to cross the Millennium Bridge to get to St. Paul’s Cathedral, but Rae stopped before getting on the bridge.  
“What’s wrong?” said Izzy.  
“I—I can’t cross that,” said Rae.  
“Of course you can,” Chloe said, grabbing Rae by the arm. “You can hold onto me the whole way across, alright?”  
Rae was hesitant, but Izzy grabbed her other arm as well and she took a few steps forward. She slowly made her way across the bridge, with the whole gang around her for moral and physical support. She felt totally humiliated.  
She sat down once they’d made it to the other side, shaking. “You guys go ahead,” she said. “I’ll just wait here.”  
“Are you not coming to St. Paul’s with us?” said Archie.  
“There’s no way I’m climbing all the way up to the top,” she said. “And I’m not going to pay eighteen pounds to sit and do nothing when I can do that for free out here.”  
“We can’t just leave you, Rae,” said Chloe.  
“I’ll stay with her,” said Finn. “I didn’t really have an interest anyway.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yeah, go ahead.”  
He sat down next to Rae and the others left in the direction of the cathedral.  
“So, are you afraid of heights?” he asked her.  
She just wanted the Earth to swallow her up. “No…”   
“Oh, I just thought because of the bridge and all—“  
“No, I’m fine!”   
“You can’t tell anyone,” he said, leaning closer. “But I’m fucking terrified of heights.”  
“Really?”  
“I’m okay with bridges, but if I had to climb to the top of St. Paul’s I would shit myself.”  
“I didn’t know that,” Rae said with a bit of a laugh.  
“No one does.”  
“I won’t tell.”  
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Finn said, “I’m starving. Let’s get lunch.”  
He stood up and Rae followed, feeling a bit better. They walked a couple of blocks and found a Pret-A-Manger. Finn grabbed a sandwich and some crisps, but Rae only got a juice.  
“Are you not hungry?” he asked as they sat down.  
“Not really,” she lied. She sipped her juice nervously as he eyed her.  
He opened his packet of crisps and shoved it at her. “Have some.”  
“I’m fine, really.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes, I’m fine.”  
Neither of them said anything as he ate and she sipped.  
The others sent them both a picture of everyone at the top of the cathedral, with the London skyline behind them.  
“Wishing you were here,” Chloe wrote.  
“Shitting myself,” Finn said to Rae.  
***  
Rae found herself awake at half two that night. She tried to get back to sleep, but she was just lying there. She checked Tumblr on her mobile, and reblogged a few cute GIFsets, when she heard a noise coming from outside the room. It sounded like an electric kettle boiling.  
She got up and left the room to check out what was going on. She could see light coming through the crack below the door to the kitchen. She approached it cautiously and tapped the handle to check if it was hot; she thought there could have been a fire or something. (Though that wouldn’t explain the kettle noise.)  
She took a deep breath and opened the door, and found Finn sitting at the kitchen table, reading something on his tablet. He looked up when she walked in, then looked over to the countertop where there was an electric kettle boiling.  
“Sorry, did I wake you?” he said.  
“No, I was awake,” she replied. “But aren’t you worried about waking Chop with the noise and the light?”  
“Nah, he can sleep through anything.”  
She could hear Chop snoring softly in the background. “So, what are you doing exactly?” she asked, looking at the kettle. There was a mug on the counter next to it.  
“What does it look like I’m doing?”  
“It looks like you’re making tea in the middle of the night.”  
“Good observation.”  
“Why are you making tea in the middle of the night?”  
“I felt like it,” he said. “Do you want some?”  
She thought about it for a minute. “What kind have you got?”  
“Yorkshire and peppermint.”  
“Alright. Peppermint. Otherwise I’m never getting back to sleep.”  
Finn went to get another mug out of the cupboard and put a teabag in it before pouring the boiling water in. He brought their mugs back to the table where they let them steep for a couple of minutes.   
Rae put her hands around her mug to warm them. “So do you do this often, then?” she asked.  
“Do what?”  
“Make tea in the middle of the night.”  
“Oh. Sometimes,” he said. “I just have trouble sleeping some nights.”   
“Yeah, so do I…”   
“Cheers, then.”   
He lifted his mug and she tapped it with her own before taking a sip.   
“Y’alright?” he asked when she winced.  
“Just burnt my tongue,” she said. “It’s fine.”  
“Do you need some water?”  
She shook her head. “I’m alright.” Her mobile buzzed on the table so she picked it up to check what it was.  
“Does that Danny guy just text you all hours of the day and night?” said Finn.  
“No, it’s just Facebook telling me that it’s my friend’s birthday…”  
“Which friend?”  
“Just a friend I met in, uh, in France,” Rae lied.   
“How was that?”  
“France? Yeah, it was great.”  
“I’ve never been to France,” he said. “I’ve never even left the UK. I’ve been to Scotland, though. Glasgow and Paisley. I have relatives in the area. I was really young when I went, though, so I don’t remember a lot about it. I’d like to go to France some time.”  
Rae had never heard him talk so much. “Uh, yeah. It’s great.”  
“Do you travel a lot?”  
“No, this is the farthest I’ve been from home,” she said. “…Except for France, of course.”  
He nodded before taking a sip of his tea. “Fuck! Still too hot.”  
***  
Archie insisted that they go to the British Museum. Rae wasn’t particularly keen on going, but at least it was free.  
When they got there, they decided to pair off so that everyone could look around at their own pace. Everyone except Rae, that is. She got stuck with Archie, who wanted to read every bloody placard. They’d barely made it through Ancient Greece when Chloe texted her to let her know she was waiting at the entrance with the others.  
“We should probably get a move on,” she said to him. The gang really wanted to leave, plus Rae had to get back to the flat to Skype with her therapist.  
“But I haven’t seen everything yet,” he whined.  
“You can come back again, alright?”  
“Fine…”  
The others were heading over to the Westfield Stratford City mall, but Rae told them she wasn’t feeling well so she could go back to the flat.  
“I’ll come with you,” said Finn.  
She started to worry. She was hoping to have the flat to herself so she could chat in private. “No, that’s alright. You don’t have to.”  
He leaned closer to her so he could lower his voice. “I don’t really have any interest in going to an enormous shopping mall, alright?”  
“You two are such party poopers,” said Chloe.  
Finn and Rae split off from the group at the DLR and took it back to their flat.  
“I’m just going to be in my room,” she said when they got in.  
“You don’t have to hide in there, you can hang out here if you want,” he said.  
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”  
She went into her room and shut the door. She immediately opened her laptop. She was already late for her appointment.  
***  
Rae had been talking to her therapist for about forty-five minutes when there was a knock at the door. “Yeah?”  
Finn walked in. “Are you talking to someone in here?” he asked.  
“I’m just on Skype,” she said, closing her laptop part way so he couldn’t see the screen.  
“Is it Danny?” he said with a frown.  
“Um, yeah.”  
“Right, well, I’m putting the kettle on and was just coming to see if you wanted a cuppa.”  
“No thanks,” she said, then thought for a minute. “Wait, Finn,” she added as he started to leave. “I’ll have a Yorkshire tea with a bit of milk, yeah?”  
“Sure.”  
She reopened her laptop once he’d left. “I have to go socialize now and be a normal teenage girl, alright?” she said.  
She and Finn watched TV and drank tea until the others got back a couple of hours later. Izzy excitedly showed Rae her new Cath Kidston handbag.  
“That’s great,” said Rae, trying to sound impressed but not giving a fuck.  
“Right, then,” said Chop. “Pub?” He pointed at each of them. “Pub? Pub?”  
Rae really just wanted everyone to leave so she could secretly eat two bags of crisps and a Dairy Milk—she hadn’t had anything but tea all day—but decided it was more important for her to try and hang out with the group and not be weird.


	3. Chapter 3

Rae couldn’t sleep again. Her stomach was just grumbling too loudly. She was surprised it hadn’t woken Archie yet.  
She quietly got a chocolate bar out of her bag and crept out of the room towards the bathroom so she could eat it privately. She was startled when the bathroom door opened and Finn nearly crashed into her again.  
“Jeez, you scared the shit out of me,” she said, trying to breathe normally after the shock.  
“Sorry,” he said. He squinted at her. “Are you taking chocolate into the bathroom?”  
“What?” She looked at the Dairy Milk in her hand. “No, I was just—“  
“You know, you’re allowed to eat in the kitchen, even if we’re sleeping, if you were worried about disturbing us.”  
“It’s okay, I don’t need to—“  
“Come have some tea with me, I’m awake now.” He grabbed the chocolate from her hand. “You shouldn’t eat in the bathroom anyway. It’s gross.”  
He walked towards the kitchen and she considered her options. She could just go back to bed, only she wouldn’t be able to sleep and she would potentially starve to death. Or she could follow him and eat her chocolate—who cares if he saw her eat it because she could just murder him, right? (That was maybe a little drastic.)  
She followed him cautiously, watching as he set the chocolate on the table and went to put the kettle on. Maybe she could just eat the whole thing while his back was turned… Only then he would still know that she had eaten it. She felt trapped. (Was murder still out of the question?)  
He sat down across from her. “Are you gonna eat that or what?”  
She shrugged.  
“Well, if you’re not going to eat it then I will.” He picked it up and started to unwrap it. He broke a piece off with his teeth. “The funny thing is, I don’t even like Dairy Milk that much,” he said with his mouth full. “I prefer Wispa, myself.”  
She frowned in disgust. “What is wrong with you?” she said. “Wispa is shit compared to Dairy Milk.”  
He smiled. “It would be a shame for me to eat all of this, then, wouldn’t it?”  
She scowled at him.  
He held it out in front of her face. “Just close your eyes and open your mouth.”  
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”  
He laughed in surprise. “You’re going to make me choke.”  
“I bet none of the girls say that to you, though.”  
He pressed his tongue against his cheek to keep from smiling. “You’re terrible, you know that?”  
“Yes,” she said.  
The kettle beeped and he got up to pour the water. Fuck it, she thought, and broke off a piece of chocolate. She closed her eyes and let it melt on her tongue. It was heavenly. She opened her eyes when she heard Finn set her mug of tea in front of her.  
“Seems like you enjoy that a lot more than I do,” he said as he sat down.  
“Now that’s something I bet the girls say to you,” she replied flippantly.  
He shook his head but looked amused. “Shut up and eat your damn chocolate.”  
***  
“Archie,” said Rae as she fixed her hair in the mirror on the back of their bedroom door. “Do you think I should get a fringe?”  
Archie looked up briefly from his mobile. “Um, I don’t care.”  
“But you’re gay; you’re supposed to be able to style me.”  
“I’m not some _Queer Eye_ caricature.”  
“Then you’re no fun.” She smiled at him to indicate that she was teasing. “Do you know what we’re doing today?”  
“I think Izzy wanted to go on the London Eye.”  
The London Eye? Finn would be shitting himself. (Rae wouldn’t have such a great time either.)  
Rae and Finn stayed on the ground while the others went up, and they perused the tacky tourist shops.  
“Oh, I need to buy a postcard to send to my friend, Tix,” said Rae.  
“Who’s Tix?” said Finn.  
“Just a friend I met in—in France.”  
He nodded his head. “That’s cool that you keep in touch.”  
“Yeah…”  
After the others’ flight on the Eye, Finn agreed to go back to the British Museum with Archie while the rest of them went shopping on Oxford Street. (Rae suspected that Chop only went along with them because Izzy was going.)   
They went into Primark—which was practically a zoo—where Izzy and Chloe tried on about a million items of clothing while Chop and Rae waited outside the changing rooms. (After having waited in a huge line to get there.)  
Rae received a text from Finn. “I’m so bored,” he wrote.  
“I’ll trade you,” she replied.  
“We’re looking at old cocks now.”  
“TMI.”  
“Dammit, CLOCKS. Old clocks.”  
“Yeah, sure. :P”  
“What are we doing tonight?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Midnight tea and chocolate?”  
She smiled a little. “OK.”  
“This time I’m giving you a taste of my Wispa, though.”  
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”  
“Only the lucky ones. ;)”  
Holy shit, did he just send her a winky face? She barely had time to process it before Izzy and Chloe appeared from the changing rooms with their arms full of clothes. Time to wait in the checkout line…  
***  
Rae didn’t even get to sleep at all that night. She wanted to make sure she was up in order to have tea with Finn again. She had grown fond of this nightly ritual of theirs. She waited until she heard the kettle and snuck out of the room without disturbing Archie.  
“How was the museum?” she asked Finn when she sat down at the table with him.  
“Alright, so, I don’t have a problem with museums, right?” he said. “I don’t mind ‘em, really. But going to a museum with Archie is like torture. He reads every single little sign and then tells you about it! If I wanted to know, Archie, I’d read it myself, thanks. I’ve learned and forgotten more today than I have in my entire life.”  
“Poor thing.”  
“I don’t envy you, though.”  
“Gee, thanks.”  
“You know what I mean.”  
“Yeah, Oxford Street was a little obscene.”  
A small light on her mobile started flashing so she checked it. It was just a notification that someone had liked one of her reblogs, so she cleared it immediately.  
“Is that Danny?” asked Finn, trying (and failing) to look disinterested.  
“What do you care?” Rae replied.  
“I don’t.” He went to take a sip of his tea but decided it was too hot and set his mug back on the table. “Is he your boyfriend or summat?”  
Rae tried not to laugh. “Um, no, he’s just my friend.”   
She couldn’t imagine Danny as her boyfriend. Not that there was anything wrong with him, exactly, but she thought it would be weird to date someone from the hospital.  
“Do you have one, then?” he said. “A boyfriend, I mean.”  
“Are you kidding me?”  
“What?”  
“Do I look like I have boys lined up ‘round the block trying to get a chance at this?”  
He looked down at his tea and swirled it around a little.  
“Alright, then,” she said, sitting back and folding her arms. “Where’s this Wispa you’ve been going on about?”  
***  
The gang decided to take a break from Central London and just hang around Greenwich for the day. This was somewhat bad news for Rae because she had another Skype appointment in the afternoon and needed to figure out how to get everyone else out of the flat for an hour.  
She made the suggestion that they all go to the park and then pretended to feel ill to stay back at the flat.  
“Are you sure you’re going to be alright by yourself?” Chloe asked. “I could stay with you.”  
“No, I’ll be fine, I just need to rest,” said Rae.  
It took a little while to get them all out, so she was late for her appointment again.  
She told her therapist how things were going in London and how she was getting closer to some of her new friends. She failed to mention, however, that she was pretty much only eating in the middle of the night and only when it was just Finn around. (Though that was still a huge step for her).  
She didn’t hear the front door open, so she was surprised when there was a knock at the bedroom door.  
“Are you alright, Rae?” Finn asked from the other side.  
“Yeah,” she said as he opened the door. She shut her laptop part way again. “Why are you back so early?”  
“I was gonna text to see if you wanted us to bring you anything, and then realized I’d left my phone, so I came back to get it.” He held it up to show her. “Then I heard someone’s voice in here, so I came to see what was going on.”  
“Just Skyping again,” she said.   
“Alright, well, sorry for interrupting. Do you want anything, though?”  
“No, I’m fine.”  
Finn looked unconvinced but stepped back anyway. “Alright. Laters, then.”  
“Laters.”


	4. Chapter 4

Rae was practically falling asleep on the train ride to Watford Junction. They were all going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. She wasn’t the biggest Harry Potter fan—she’d only read four of the books—but she’d seen the movies, and besides, she was trying to join in more with the gang.  
She was just about to drift off when she felt her mobile buzz in her pocket.  
“You excited?” Finn had texted her.  
She looked up and across the aisle to where he was seated but he didn’t look back at her. “Thrilled,” she replied. “Can’t you tell?”  
She watched out of the corner of her eye to see when he got her message. She caught a glimpse of a smile then looked away quickly as he glanced at her.  
“You look positively overjoyed,” he wrote back.  
“So do you.”  
“I’m doing cartwheels on the inside.”  
They arrived at the train station and waited in line for the shuttle bus to take them to the studio tour where they had to wait in yet another line. When they finally made it into the Great Hall, Izzy started taking photos of everything.  
The group split into two: Archie went with Izzy because he would read each placard while she took pictures, and Chop went with them because he was obsessed with Izzy, as far as Rae could tell; Rae, Finn and Chloe went through at a quicker pace.  
Rae enjoyed seeing the animatronics, though—particularly the giant Hagrid head—and walking along Diagon Alley. And, of course, the spectacular model of Hogwarts.  
“I just want to become miniature so I can run around in there,” she said as she circled it. “It’s so detailed.”  
“Yeah, but imagine having to climb all those steps,” said Finn.  
“Let me guess,” she replied. “You’d be shitting yourself.”  
He looked around to make sure Chloe wasn’t close. “Alright, keep it down.”  
The three of them made it through way before the others, so they picked up some Starbucks in the lobby and played with their phones while they waited.   
“Do you think we should leave without them?” Finn texted Rae.  
“Archie has our train tickets,” she responded.  
“Damn him and his fascination with old cocks.”  
Rae tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it.  
“What?” said Chloe. “What’s so funny?” She looked at Finn. “Are you two texting each other when I’m right here?”  
“No, I was just laughing at something on Twitter,” Rae said. “That George Takei, I tell ya…”  
She exchanged glances with Finn and could tell they both had major lie face going on.  
Luckily the others arrived before Chloe could press further.  
“Tea tonight? 2am?” Rae wrote to Finn.  
“It’s a date.”  
***  
“Alright, I have a game for our last night here,” said Chop when they were back at the flat having drinks at the end of the day. They had to finish off their booze before they left in the morning.  
“NOT Spin the Bottle,” Finn said forcefully.  
“What about Sexy Spin the Bottle?”  
“No.”  
“Alright, alright,” said Chop. “How about Truth or Dare?”  
“Ooh, I love that game,” said Izzy.  
“Are we twelve?” said Archie.  
“You’re just scared,” said Chop.  
“I’m not scared.”  
“Okay, then, truth or dare?”  
Archie rolled his eyes. “Dare, I guess.”  
Chop seemed suitably impressed. “I dare you to do the chicken dance—“  
“Oh, so we’re seven, then—“  
“—without your trousers.”  
Archie groaned but stood up and started to remove his trousers.  
“Come on, ladies, give him a hand,” Chop said, clapping.  
The girls joined in and started cheering and applauding as Archie undressed and did the chicken dance. They were howling with laughter.  
“I hate you all,” he said when he put his trousers back on and sat down.  
Archie dared Chloe to eat a packet of ketchup that had been left in their refrigerator, and she made Izzy tell everyone about the time she kissed her own cousin. (Second cousin, sorry.) Izzy dared Chop to sing “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” by The Darkness, and he dared Finn to kiss Rae.  
“No,” said Finn.  
“What?”  
He glanced at Rae. “I’m not doing that.”  
“Alright, you can refuse a dare once,” said Chop. “But then you have to do the next one no matter what. So what will it be? Door number one?”—he gestured towards Rae—“Or mystery door number two?”  
Rae wasn’t sure what was more humiliating: the fact that kissing her was dare-worthy, or the fact that it was such a horrible dare that Finn would actually refuse it.  
“Number two, I guess,” Finn grumbled.  
“You’ve gotta kiss Archie, then,” Chop said with a shrug, as if it were out of his control.  
Finn looked wholly unimpressed—Archie didn’t look too enthused, either—but he went over to kiss him anyway.  
That was probably the most humiliating part for Rae. Either Finn was also secretly gay, or she was such a troll that a straight guy would rather kiss another bloke than kiss her.  
“You know what, guys, I have a massive headache,” she said, standing up. “I think I’m just going to go to bed now.” (And cry forever.)  
“Come on, Rae,” said Chloe. “You haven’t even had a turn yet.”  
“I don’t want a turn, I want to lie down,” Rae said as she stood up. “You guys have fun though.”  
She went to her and Archie’s room and tried to sleep, but the sound of the others cackling was too distracting. She hated herself for bailing on yet another group activity, but she couldn’t just sit there and continue to be humiliated.  
She pretended to be asleep when Archie finally came in, just after one A.M. She could tell he was pretty drunk because he fell asleep on top of the bed, fully dressed.  
She was maybe half-asleep by the time she heard the kettle boiling in the kitchen and she received a text from Finn.  
“Feeling any better? Did you still want tea? Tea makes everything better.”  
She didn’t respond. She decided she wasn’t talking to him for a while. (Or Chop, for that matter.) He’d made her feel like a fool.  
It wasn’t just that somebody didn’t want to kiss her—that’s something she could understand—but wasn’t she friendly enough with Finn now that he’d do it if he had to? But more than that, she had started to think that maybe… No, it was stupid. He clearly didn’t even think of her as a friend—she wasn’t even “one of the guys” since he’d kiss Archie—let alone anything more than that.  
There was no way she was going to have tea with him now. She was just going to pretend she was asleep and stay in her room all night.  
Except she had to go to the toilet…  
Alright, she would leave the room very quietly, and sneak past the kitchen door, which would probably be closed anyway. She made it to the bathroom fine, but on her way back past the kitchen she noticed the door was open and there was a figure silhouetted in the doorway. Shit.  
“Rae?” said Finn. “Aren’t you coming?”  
“Nah, I’m really tired,” she replied.  
“Alright,” he said reluctantly.  
She started to walk away when he reached for her arm and stopped her.  
“Can I just talk to you for a second?” he said. He looked towards the open kitchen door behind him. “Privately?”  
He took her by the hand and led her into the bathroom.  
“What are we doing in here?” she asked.  
“I just—I needed to tell you something…”  
“Okay, what is it?”   
He shifted uncomfortably. “Look, I—I didn’t… I didn’t want to kiss you on a dare.”  
“Yeah, I got that.” She folded her arms and looked away.  
“No, I mean, I didn’t want to do it just because Chop dared me to…”  
“What are you saying?”  
“I mean, I just… I wanted—I’m not good at explaining.“   
He put his hand on the side of her face and kissed her.  
“Um, what was that for?” she asked, dumbfounded.  
“I didn’t want to kiss you on a dare,” he said. “I wanted to kiss you ‘cause I want to.”  
She wasn’t sure how to respond.  
“Tea?” he said.  
***  
Everyone was feeling pretty terrible on the train ride home. They were up too late and drank too much and were sad to be leaving. Except Rae.  
No, she didn’t get enough sleep, and yes, she was sad to be leaving, but all that crappiness was overwhelmed by the joy she felt when she remembered her kiss with Finn. She wasn’t sure if it meant anything, but right now she didn’t care. That was a worry for real life, and real life didn’t start back up again until they were back in Lincolnshire.  
She was watching Finn across the table on his mobile for a while when he texted her.   
“Stop staring at me, it freaks me out.”  
She looked back up at him and he was smiling at his phone. She wasn’t going to stop staring. Not ever.


End file.
